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Thread: Chapter Four

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    Chapter Four

    CHAPTER FOUR


    Vicril shut the door once the others had left and considered the situation, what the elf had said, and what Jothal mentioned just before he left: "I know Trailo is your son, but if what they say is true and his arm will not heal, I feel like this is an opportunity for him to start anew. For whatever reason, fate has decided to entangle our destinies together and I think there is a lot he could learn by coming along."

    He turned to his son, still sitting atop the bed and looking quite unsatisfied with being barred from leaving. Trailo spoke, angrily, “Why? I am useless here in Foabur!”

    Vicril sighs again, considering how to respond, "I just want you to be safe. Who knows what dangers they may face... You encountered a mere boar and look at you! I don't want to relegate my son to merely taking an arrow for that elf! You have a full life ahead of you to live, and I'm not going to let you throw it away like that!"

    "Father, if I can't continue my apprenticeship what do you expect me to do here? If I go with them to Triln I'll learn a lot, I'll have others to potentially help somehow and have a purpose. I'd rather do something for them after what happened to me instead of sitting around the house. You know you aren't going to let me go get herbs ever again. Just let me go. I'll promise to come back some day."

    After several more minutes of seemingly fruitless argument with Vicril adamantly refusing, a knock comes to the door. Vicril sighs, takes a deep breath to calm down, and heads to the door.

    Opening it, there are three men at the door, "May I help you?" Vicril eyes them a bit, and the one in front suddenly pulls out a knife and starts to move forward. Surprised, Vicril began trying to shut the door immediately, but the man was faster. His foot blocked the door and the knife came to Vicril’s neck.

    Taking several steps back, the man kept the knife against his throat threateningly. Once he is fully inside he speaks to the other men coming in behind him, “Check for others and keep them silent but alive... for now.”

    The other two spread out. One heads for Trailo with a mace, speaking, “Say anything and my little friend here will be saying hello, and he is really looking forward to it...” His statement was referring to his vicious-looking mace, which he waved in front of Trailo’s face.

    The other man, who was notably larger than the first two, scoured the adjoining rooms, but found nobody and returned to the main room shortly. The one with a knife to Vicril’s throat begins to speak menacingly into the cleric’s ear, “There was a woman here! Where is she!?”

    Vicril, still stunned by the situation, opens and closes his mouth several times before managing to speak, his voice stuttering several times, “I am but a s-simple cleric... I-I treat women all the time, who c-could you be asking about...?”

    The man now shoves him against the wall a bit and tightens his grip on the knife and Vicril’s collar, “Shot by an arrow in the shoulder! Where did she go!?”

    Vicril now realized that they were after Alithana. He wondered to himself whether these were the ones whom she mentioned would be coming after her. With widened eyes he is about to speak, but Trailo speaks up first, “T-they already left! They said they were headed for Chorster to c-catch a ferry or something.”

    Vicril was about to agree with his son to try to mislead these men, but immediately the one with the knife responds, “She came in with a caravan, and we just saw that caravan still in the market! Tell us where she is if you want to live!” Vicril feels some pressure on his neck and the knife begins to draw some blood.

    He swallows hard and speaks desperately, “Please! He's my son! I don't care what you do to me, but please spare him, he is young and has a full life ahead of him!” He took a breath and was about to continue, but the man cuts him off.

    "Where is she!? Tell me and we will spare his life!"

    Before Vicril can answer, though, Trailo speaks loudly now, “NO! Don't tell them!” The man next to Trailo immediately covers his mouth to shut him up and says to the cleric, “Tell us now or you get to watch your son die right in front of you!”

    Vicril knew his priorities. The life of his son was at the top of his list, and he’d do anything to try preserving that. He explains to the men that she left with several others barely 15 minutes before, and were headed to the stables before going north toward Nalvo, and after that Triln.

    The man grins a bit, satisfied at the answer. Turning to the man holding Trailo, he orders, "Knock the boy out. Neither will wake until after we are long gone." He then forcefully hits the side of the Vicril’s head with the pommel of his dagger.

    His vision fading, Vicril immediately loses consciousness, slumping to the ground.



    Alithana was exhausted. Calling forth such a spell is rarely so tiring for her, but she was without her staff for now, and needing to maintain control over such a large area with so many people in it drained energy quickly. Faintly, she hears Jothal asking from about 20 yards away, near the others, “Are you alright?” She was facing away from them, and took a few more breathes to recover a bit from the drain of the spell.

    Rising slowly and a little unsteady, she turns back to the group and begins walking forward. Gregor begins moving toward her and lends her a shoulder for the rest of the walk back to the group. He has a stoic, stern look on his face. It seems that he decided to wait until later before asking any questions.

    Alithana finally speaks, "They are gone for now, but they may return. That archer from yesterday wasn't here, so as soon as the wagons catch up we should move on before making any sort of camp for the night."

    Several of them agree. Jothal simply nods his head in agreement. The wagons arrive shortly. There are three wagons that arrive, and Gregor speaks, "Guess the others weren't interested. Oh well." Gregor and Elda helped Alithana into the second wagon to ride. Jothal, Gregor, and three others continued riding horses alongside the wagons as they headed north past the clearing.

    Next to Alithana in the wagon was Seraphi, who questioned how she was doing with a concerned look on her face. Alithana reassured her that she would be fine. Her staff was laying down in the wagon, and she grabbed it, holding it beside her. She could already feel energy returning to her now, beginning to feel refreshed and renewed.

    The caravan continues to head north for several hours until dusk begins to set. The crew position the wagons to form walls covering part of the camp and construct a campfire. It was plain that these people were accustomed to travelling and setting up camps. It seemed almost second-nature to them.

    Food was being prepared and served, and Alithana counted 14 others, including Jothal and Ash. She was sitting nearby, the hood of her cloak down and her staff beside her. She had fully recovered by this point.

    Gregor seemed to decide that this was the time to get a few answers about what had happened. Approaching Alithana, he spoke, “We are escorting you to Triln, but I feel it is important for everyone to understand each other. Most of us are simple merchants and caravan crew, and I must admit that what happened back there during the fight was a bit unnerving. I have never seen anything like it, so if you can calm my nerves and explain what happened, I'm sure we would all appreciate it...”

    Alithana looked around a bit at everyone at the caravan. During the trip after the clearing, it seems that everyone has heard what occurred, and is gathered near, apprehensive. Her gaze passes to Jothal as he leans against a nearby tree, with Ash beside him. She considers how to explain things.



    Tranan Chandler slumped down into his chair, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. It was late at night now, and he had just finished presenting his theories and evidence to the rest of the Archmages. He was exhausted from the day, but this was merely the beginning.

    Tranan had been studying magical auras for over 20 years now, and was considered the foremost expert on them within the Mages Guild. He was granted the title of Archmage last year, although for him it was primarily an honorary title, as he never fully took advantage of any of the perks of the position.

    The Archmages oversaw the Guild, directed its efforts, and were considered the most powerful and capable of mages. Tranan, however, had comparatively little capacity for large or complex spells. Instead, he has been focusing his life on understanding the basis of magic, the auras. Seeing them, deciphering their meaning, and in some cases manipulating them in specific ways.

    His first interaction with the Guild was at the age of eleven. Usually, most recruits are found when their own auras manifest and the Guild notices them, but for Tranan he had actually been able to view the auras of the Guild members and approached them, asking why they seemed to glow. They had been hesitant at first, but he was taken into the Guild and began learning and practicing magic. It became evident early on that he was largely unable to manifest his energy into distinct spells above the most basic levels, and eventually he turned away from such and toward the auras themselves.

    As most mages focused on harnessing their energy and crafting spells of increasing complexity over the years, Tranan developed new types of spells to aid him in analyzing and studying the auras. Using these, he has made numerous findings, and the renown he earned from them are what got him the Archmage title.

    Mages and spells do not generate the auras, as had been previously believed, but the aura was something universal and expansive, and those who manifested magic were directly interacting with the aura, condensing and pulling it around themselves into the spells they would craft. Instead of magic causing auras, he had discovered that the auras are what allows magic to exist.

    And now he had noticed something strange in the aura. A quake or a vibration perhaps, but in general it was an instability in the aura. If the instability grew, Tranan believed that it could make magic harder to control, more uncertain, and potentially dangerous.

    He needed to leave Triln. The aura was too distorted here. He assumed it was a result of many years of the Mages Guild practicing spells, the aura constantly being dragged toward the city had left it dense and thick. He needed to go where it would be calm, so he could more easily study the instability and try to find the cause of it.

    As he had tried explaining it all to the other Archmages, they had been hesitant about believing him. Expressing concerns and doubts at it, as they had noticed no difference in the usage of spells and everything felt perfectly normal to them. Eventually, Tranan had convinced them to allow him to lead a small expedition to find out for certain the situation.

    He would be taking several volunteers with him. Some of his students would come, and they would be requesting for some knights to volunteer to be escorts just in case some brute strength was needed.



    Late the next morning, Tranan was standing on a raised platform near the center of a large, crowded training field. A few yards away, several knight captains were calling for all the knights to gather around. The captains explain that six volunteers are being requested to provide escort to a Mages Guild field research expedition.

    Several knights volunteer, and six are chosen. Tranan, the captains, and the volunteers begin heading toward a structure on the edge of the fields to provide details of the expedition. Suddenly, after a few dozen yards, someone calls out to one of the volunteered knights. Everyone turned, and Tranan recognized the approaching man to be the son of Lord Davben, Adolin.

    Tranan has had little interaction with the young lord, but the loss of Lady Davben two years ago had been a tragic event for the entire city, and it was well known that Adolin had taken the loss of his mother especially hard. He came and spoke briefly with one of the volunteers, although Tranan paid little attention to it.

    Eventually they arrived at the building and Tranan was able to confront the volunteer knights, “Good day, Knights of Triln. My name is Tranan Chandler, one of the Archmages of the Mages Guild. I will be leading this field research, and you volunteering to accompany us is appreciated, and you will be compensated well for your services.

    “In the morning we will leave for Gellantara. Once there, we will take a riverboat to Tarmikos, where we'll be staying for three weeks. The trips there and back will each take ten days, so this expedition will last for the next six weeks. From Tarmikos, we'll be doing a few excursions into the forest, the longest of which will last a week before we return to Tarmikos.

    “Your duty and responsibility during this time will simply be to stay nearby and in the event of a bandit attack to fight and defend myself and my crew. This will mainly be needed during the excursions into the forests, as we won't be expecting anything to happen until then. So, any questions?”

    The knights consider this for a moment, and one asks some questions, “In the event of a bandit attack, will we be taking prisoners, and should we pursue fleeing bandits after such an attack? Also, should we be aware of the purpose or goal of this expedition?”

    Tranan explains, “The purpose of this expedition is not to slay or capture bandits around Tarmikos. If they attack, we defend ourselves, but making them flee should be enough. We won't mourn for any casualties on their side, however, so no need to hold back during a fight." He pauses for a moment. "Our goals are purely academic. We'll be studying magical auras.”

    He asks the rest of the group if they have any other questions. None express any concerns, so he dismisses and informs them to gather at the northeastern gate at sunrise. The knights seemed capable, and a few were eager to be able to leave the city.



    Partway back to the Mages Guild, there was a large public courtyard. It was a large grassy hill, one of several places throughout the city where you could relax in a small bit of nature, and near the middle was a single old tree. There were several kids playing around it, and one person was sitting with his back against the bark.

    The person was dressed in the standard Mages Guild robes. It was Jorin, one of Tranan’s top students and one of the ones helping him organize the expedition. Tranan walked up to him and spoke, “An escort of six knights will be accompanying us as we leave in the morning. Is everything else prepared?”

    Jorin replied, “Yes, we will be ready to leave by first light, Archmage Tranan. Myself and the others will meet you at the gate as planned, although there will only be four others. Ianden won't be coming with us.”

    Tranan reponded, “That is regrettable, but nonetheless we go as planned.” They continued speaking for a few minutes, mostly of general supplies they would need for the trip. Then they headed back toward the Mages Guild to prepare for the next morning…



    TO BE CONTINUED...
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    Re: Chapter Four

    Player Characters mentioned/seen in Chapter Four: Trailo Milner, Jothal Wayland, Darik Rynthai, Adolin Davben, Holland Novak, Cypha Capulet.

    Player Perspective A: Darik Rynthai
    Darik ran through the woods. He had just watched as Belster was set upon by the caravaners, unable to escape. Darik had no time to waste, and he hurried back to the main camp.

    As he arrived, the other bandit that fled was already in the camp and had explained to the others what had happened. As Darik enters, everyone stops talking and turned toward him, expectantly. After a few moments, Darik realizes they are seeing him as the leader, with Tradak now gone.

    Darik goes over the details of what happened again, and finds out any information he was unaware of by asking the other bandit that escaped. He gathers everyone together and they head out toward the clearing to bury the bodies of their fallen comrades.

    The entire group rallied under his leadership readily and were obeying his orders. There were 18 others beside himself now, and as they approach the clearing it is eerily empty. Bodies are scattered around the clearing, but the caravan was nowhere to be seen.

    Darik sends a few men to the edges of the clearing to watch the roads for anything approaching, and the rest begin burying the bodies. Once Darik reaches the body of Belster, he realizes that the man is still alive, that he was merely knocked unconscious by the caravaners and not killed.

    After a few minutes, he wakes up, puts his hand to his head, and looks around, noticing everyone. "What... What happened?" He tried to sit up, but suddenly clasped his head in pain. "The last thing I remember is getting hit by a chair..."

    One of the other bandits speaks up, "Looks like you took a nasty blow to the head... Though you're lucky they didn't kill you!"

    Belster takes a moment to clear his head, looks around at the others, and narrows his eyes on Darik. He points and says, "YOU! Darik! How the hell could you just leave me to die like that, you piece of shit!" The sudden outburst shocked everyone.

    Darik, staying calm, responds, "Had you been paying attention to your surroundings and not awestruck by the shot that I landed, you would have seen that there were too many for us both to take out. There was no sense in us both dying and getting your head out of your arse was the most I could do. It is good to see you still alive."

    Belster keeps his eyes narrowed, but begrudgingly quiets down. Another bandit bandages his head and helps him to his feet.

    The remainder of the bodies have been buried, and Darik now gathers the group near the edge of the clearing. It is getting close to dusk, and Darik speaks to the group, "We've all had a long day. Let's get some rest. Tomorrow, myself and two others will be going into Foabur to try and learn what became of our attacker. No doubt she went with the caravan. We will hide our weapons and hopefully not raise any suspicions."



    Darik rises in the morning, all the more eager to find the woman who slew his friends as if they were flies. He suspected she might be dead by now from the poison, but if they made it to Foabur in time it's possible they had an antidote, as it was simple Otiroot poison, which is rather common around the area.

    He looked around and began deciding who would accompany him into the town. The first person he decided on was Keveak, a capable and strong man who wields a heavy axe. He was one of the most prominent members under Tradak, and had been leading one of the other groups of which had been observing the clearing at a different shift.

    The second person was Vicod, an unextraordinary bandit, but he was a close friend of Tradak and would be motivated to try getting some revenge. He preferred using a mace. The three of them hid their weapons in packs as best they could, keeping only daggers at their sides, and tried cleaning themselves up so as not to draw as much attention and appear as farm workers.

    They set off toward the town, taking some of the few horses which the group had "acquired" over the last few months from caravans. It takes several hours of riding, but eventually the trees thin and are replaced by large tracts of farmland. In the distance ahead is the town.

    The number of people on the road steadily increases, but no one seems to pay much attention to the bandits and just go about their own business. As they neared the center of town, they stop at the edge of a public market. It would be rare for multiple caravans to have come to the town simultaneously, and sure enough there were a few wagons off to one side of the market, and Darik believed they were the same group that had escaped the clearing the previous day.

    They were simply selling their wares to the townsfolk, but Darik did not see any sign of the strange woman that had slain Tradak and the others. Thinking that the town's cleric would be the best place to look, he tells Vicod to appear a bit ill and asks for directions from a passerby.

    It is only a few minutes away down a couple of streets. Trying to make their way there took several minutes longer than expected, though, due to the crowded streets of people moving in every direction. Eventually, the cleric's place comes into view, as noted by a plain sign situated in front of the structure.

    They dismount their horses and knock on the door. Darik thought he could perhaps hear arguing occuring inside, but couldn't make out any words through the walls. A few moments later a man opens the door, "May I help you?" the man asks dryly, his face not very friendly at the moment.



    Not wasting any time, Darik pulls his knife and steps forward toward the man. Using his foot to prevent the door from being closed, the knife comes up near the mans neck, and he pushes the man several steps into the room, allowing Vicod and Keveak to follow him inside. "Check for others and keep them silent but alive... for now."

    Entering into the room, there was a boyish man sitting up on a bed, utterly surprised by what has transpired. Seeing the knife at the cleric's throat, the color drained from his face. Darik sees that his left arm is heavily bandaged, so he assumes him to be a patient. Vicod, reaching him with his mace in hand, says "Say anything, and my little friend here will be saying hello, and he is really looking forward to it..." in reference to his mace, which he waves back and forth viciously. The young man is stunned, and just nods his head slightly, obviously scared.

    Keveak looks around the rest of the room. It has numerous other beds, but no one else is here. He glances into some of the adjoining rooms, still seeing no one else.

    Darik nudges the door shut with his foot. With the hand not holding the knife, he grips the collar of the cleric's shirt and whispers menacingly into his ear. "There was a woman here! Where is she!?"

    A bit in shock at the situation, the man opens and closes his mouth several times. He begins speaking, but stutters several times, "I am but a s-simple cleric... I-I treat women all the time, who c-could you be asking about...?"

    Nudging the cleric against a wall, Darik tightens his grip on the knife and collar. "Shot by an arrow in the shoulder! Where did she go!?"

    The cleric's eyes widen a bit, but before the man can answer the boyish man on the bed speaks, "T-they already left! They said they were headed for Chorster to c-catch a ferry or something."

    The cleric nods his head quickly, but Darik doubts he was told the truth, "She came in with a caravan, and we just saw that caravan still in the market! Tell us where she is if you want to live!" As he says this, he pricks the cleric's neck, drawing some blood.

    He seems to give in, "Please! He's my son," he says, indicating the person on the bed near Vicod, "I don't care what you do to me, but please spare him, he is young and has a full life ahead of him!" The man pauses, breathing.

    Pressuring him further, Darik speaks loudly, "Where is she!? Tell me and we will spare his life!"

    Desparate, the cleric seems about to speak, but the younger man, now Darik knows him to be the cleric's son, calls out, "NO! Don't tell them!" Stopping him from yelling any more, Vicod covers his mouth and then says to the cleric, "Tell us now or you get to watch your son die right in front of you!"

    The man has thoroughly been broken mentally. He explains that she left with several others barely 15 minutes before you had arrived, headed to the stables, and that they were going north toward Nalvo, and after that Triln.

    Satisfied at the response, Darik looks over at Vicod. "Knock the boy out. Neither will wake until after we are long gone." Darik forcefully hits the side of the cleric's head with the pommel of his dagger, and Vicod gives the boy a nice wallop to the skull.

    Leaving, they hide their weapons again and nonchalantly mount the houses and begin heading north again. As before, wading through and around people moving about the streets slows them down, but before too long they are on the main road, riding north at a decent speed.



    Trying to catch up to them as quick as possible, they push the horses to move faster. About halfway to the clearing, Darik sees them in the distance. It appears to be about a half-dozen silhouettes, but he cannot be sure of their number from this distance.

    He had not anticipated so many, and he realizes he cannot take them on with just three. Darik sends Keveak and Vicod to keep their current distance and follow them, and Darik heads into the edge of the forest. He'll be able to move unnoticed but slower. He will meet with the bandit pack and organize an ambush in the night.

    After a time, he sees wagons going down the road, away from Foabur and toward the north. He stays out of sight as they pass, and then continues down the edge of the road.

    It takes Darik about another 2 hours to near the clearing. Keveak and Vicod should have passed through the clearing about an hour ago, with the wagons reaching it about 30 minutes ago.

    As he nears the clearing, he sees four bodies strewn across the area, and recognizes one of them as Belster. None of them are moving. Swearing at the turnout, he realizes they must have tried to do an ambush while he was away, likely because Belster recognized the woman.

    He clenches his teeth and squeezes his fists in anger at their stupidity... Belster probably riled them up and convinced them to do it; if only Darik hadn't left him with the group, this might have been avoided.

    Turning away, Darik heads back to the camp for now. It was several miles away, but Darik reaches it quickly. Entering into the camp, it is now dusk. Darik sees the men scattered around, including Vicod, Keveak, and several others, but it is notably less than the 18 it had been that morning.

    Approaching the closest one, he asks what happened. The man just shakes his head a bit, "It was terrible... That woman, she... She's not normal! We had her surrounded but then there was this giant pit or something! It was the most horrifying thing I've ever experienced. The hands! Those hands tried to pull us into the pit! Tried to pull us into hell!"

    Everyone else appears downtrodden and many are obviously traumatized. Keveak and Vicod seem disturbed but still functioning fine. Darik assume they've been listening to the others for the last hour before he got here...
    Last edited by Mythonian; 09-20-2014 at 07:54 AM.
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    Re: Chapter Four

    Player Perspective B: Adolin Davben
    Lord Davben of Triln succeeded his father to the throne, and has been ruling Triln for the last 25 years. Since then, Triln has grown significantly more powerful and has more influence over the other cities than ever before.

    Being a major proponent of trade and maintaining a large force of Knights and Guards, he has cleared many of the bandit packs near to the city, and is quite favored by most, but the poor of the city have been suffering. Most attention has been put toward outside the city, so the slums have gotten worse.

    Lord Davben is now 44 years old and age is showing. He isn't expected to live too many more years, so more and more pressure has steadily been put upon his son Adolin.

    Beneath Lord Davben are the Nobles, whom are often large landowners or control aspects of trade. Below the Nobles is a sort of middle-class citizenry that lives within or just outside the city and has a decent standard of living. Below them are the farmers who live outside the city walls. At the bottom are the poor and homeless, who have congregated into areas called slums.

    In terms of layout, the city is surrounded by large farming tracts and the area is well settled. There are many homes around the outskirts of the walls as well. The city walls are large and strong, and would be hard to assault. Within the walls are various districts and areas, markets, etc., nothing too special. Near the center is the Citadel, which is a fortified mix between a manor and a castle, and is where Lord Davben and other politically important individuals reside.



    Adolin has never spent much time on the thought that he would eventually rule this city. He has always supported his father, despite not always seeing eye-to-eye with him on certain issues. He always remained steadfastly obedient, listening to his father and following his rulings.

    Most of Adolin's recent efforts have been in trying to help improve his father's reputation as opposed to building his own as a future leader. Adolin spends much of his free time courting noble women, and after the last two years is currently on bad terms with many of them. This is a result of the death of his mother.

    Just over two years ago, an underground organization within Triln, known as "Teir", was attempting to assassinate Lord Davben and his entire family, Adolin included. This was due to the poor conditions of the slums and lack of effort by the Lord to help support the homeless and downtrodden.

    The assassination attempt was mostly thwarted, except they succeeded in killing Adolin's mother, Lady Davben. Immediately afterward, a large investigation began, trying to find the culprits. The investigation was a success, the hideout of Teir was discovered and raided, and nearly every member of it was executed. A few did escape, however, and their whereabouts are unknown.

    After the successful destruction of Teir, details of their organization were discovered. They were a group that could be contracted to perform assassinations for a price, and so this raised the question: who hired them to assassinate Lord Davben? It must have been a large sum of money to get Teir to take the job, narrowing the possibilities.

    Fingers began to be pointed by the noble families at each other. It was time of uncertainty and in some cases hostilities between the noble houses. In one case, a Noble accused a dignitary from Gellantara of being part of the conspiracy.

    It ended up leading to a duel where the person that did the accusing got killed. One of the dignitary's friends championed for him in the fight, and his sword cut straight through the accusor's blade and then into his right shoulder, dealing a fatal blow. Afterward, the dignitaries and the friend who championed for them all fled the city to avoid repercussions, and most Nobles agree that they were the ones who hired Teir to assassinate the Lord.

    This was because before Triln grew into a powerhouse of trade, Gellantara had been the center of it. As Triln grew, more and more ships began heading to the port of Trannyth instead of Gellantara. And the Gellantarans were not very happy about it. The city, of course, denies any involvement and refuses to hand over the dignitaries who had fled the city after the duel.

    A year later, Adolin started to hear a few whispers that instead the Mages Guild was involved in it somehow. None of the rumors were very clear about how or why, and all of them were stated by other Nobles who despised the Mages Guild for various reasons. Adolin never fully believed them, but after hearing it enough he has grown very suspicious of the Mages Guild.



    Adolin preferred not getting too involved with politics on his own, mainly keeping his political pursuits to assisting his father. He often would give advisement focused more toward poverty and corruption issues.

    One day while wandering the Citadel, Adolin overhears several nobles speaking about some activity of the Mages Guild. Instantly, this caught Adolin's attention. It seemed the nobles doing the speaking had a notable dislike of them, and after a few moments of listening Adolin discerns that it has something to do with field research the Mages want to do outside the city, and that some knights will end up escorting them.

    Intriqued, Adolin continues listening for a bit, but it seems the nobles had no other useful information. He decides that he should try speaking with some of the knights who would be escorting them to find out more.

    He heads to the training fields, and after arriving sees that near the middle of the field, all the knights are gathered. On a raised platform are several Knight Captains, speaking to the gathered knights, as well as a hooded figure off to one side.

    Adolin cannot see the face of the hooded figure, but recognizes the robes as being from the Mages Guild. Seeing them, he frowns deeply but moves closer in order to listen in.

    Adolin hears that the Captains are speaking about the mission and asking for a few volunteers for it. Several knights come forward to volunteer, and six are selected. The remainder are dismissed to return to drills as the volunteers, the captains, and the hooded figure head off toward a structure on the edge of the field.

    Adolin recognizes one of the volunteers as a knight who he occasionally spars with. Jogging to catch up with them, he calls out, "Hey! Holland!"



    The entire group turns at the outburst as Adolin heads toward Holland. As he approaches, Adolin looks briefly at the rest of the group, taking in faces and seeing if he recognizes any of them. One of them is a female knight, and he thinks he has likely tried making advances on her in the past, although he doubts any were successful.

    Trying to steer clear of her just in case, he heads to Holland and asks about the situation and what the gathering was about. Holland turns away from him and briefly explains about the escort mission, although he said nothing that Adolin didn't already know.

    Holland begins walking away, and Adolin is confused by the strange behavior. He catchs up with Holland again and asks, "Holland? What is going on?" After the two get a bit farther from the others, "We are away from the others now. Why are you acting so oddly?"

    Holland responds, "You know why, Adolin... The last 'opportunity' you convinced me into got me paid next to nothing, and I've had to nearly starve myself and live on the goodwill of others recently. If you've got another 'proposition' for me, I'll have no part in it, and I've already volunteered for this expedition thing."

    Adolin is a bit confused, but realize that he's talking about some of the side jobs Adolin mentioned to him in the past trying to give him something to do instead of just sit around the city all day. Apparently they haven't all worked out, but he didn't come for anything along those lines.

    Adolin asks again, "Anyways, that expedition thing is why I'm here... What's it all about?"

    Holland stops and looks at him, "They haven't given us any details yet, just that the Mages Guild was getting an escort for it. It was a chance to get outside of this boring city, so I took it."

    Adolin considers this for a moment, and then explains, "If you can help me out and keep a close eye on the Mages Guild and report back to me what the mages are up to, then I will in return help you out with your financial situation. All you would need to do is keep a close eye on them and try to gather what you can. Try to guard their meetings, stick close to them while they are talking and gain their trust. I have a feeling something incredibly bad is about to occur in this city, and I think the Mages Guild is directly in the heart of it."

    It takes a moment, but Holland responds, "I'll do what I can, but don't expect anything too much, not sure they'd let me get too close to anything important. Now, if you'll excuse me, they are about to begin briefing us."

    He begins to walk off with the others now. Adolin, still mostly unaware of the true situation, realizes he might have better luck back at the Citadel, so he heads in that direction now.



    About a third of the way back to the Citadel, Adolin is walking through a large public courtyard. It's commonly a gathering place for citizens and it's generally a very relaxing place. It's one of only a few areas in the city that isn't paved and walled by buildings.

    It's a smooth grassy hill with a single lone tree in the middle. There are several young kids playing around the area, and near one side of the courtyard he spots several individuals wearing the recognizable robes of Mages Guild members.

    They appear to be speaking amongst themselves about a few things, but they aren't speaking loudly so Adolin cannot hear what they are saying. They are mostly keeping away from others.

    Adolin is perplexed by all the strange Mages Guild activity today. This public courtyard is not a common place for them to hang around as they normally stay near the Guild's central building and surrounding housings.

    He tries to edge a little closer to the mages, staying as inconspicuous as possible. He cannot get close enough to hear most of what they are saying, but what was initially a quiet discussion is becoming a heated argument now.

    "It doesn't matter what some crackpot researcher thinks he saw! No one else can tell any difference!" Said one of them loudly.

    The other was more calm, but was also speaking louder now, "He's not just some crackpot researcher, he's one of the Archmages! And he's spent more time studying the aura than anyone else in the Guild!"

    "Yeah, and even the other Archmages disagree with him! Archmage Tranan was only able to get his little research trip approved in the first place because it would get him out of the hair of the other Archmages for awhile!"

    "Oh? And where did you hear this from? The Archmages haven't announced anything about it, so don't believe everything you hear in rumors and gossip. They all know it's a legitimate concern and just want it verified before anything is done."

    "Just wait. When they return empty-handed and prove themselves wrong, just remember our bet." One of them turns and walks away, out of the courtyard. Adolin realizes that it seems the entire argument was about them betting on the success of the expedition.

    The second Mages Guild member heads toward the tree in the middle of the courtyard, and Adolin chooses to follow him a bit, seeing what he is planning. Keeping a good distance away, Adolin watches as the man sits with his back against the tree, seemingly doing nothing at all.

    After several minutes, Adolin begins thinking that he is just wasting his time now, but eventually another Mages Guild member approaches the tree. This new person's cloak appears more ornate than usual, and as he approaches he says, "An escort of six knights will be accompanying us as we leave in the morning. Is everything else prepared?"

    "Yes, we will be ready to leave by first light, Archmage Tranan. Myself and the others will meet you at the gate as planned, although there will only be four others. Ianden won't be coming with us."

    Tranan reponds, "That is regrettable, but nonetheless we go as planned." They continued speaking for a few minutes, but the rest was inconsequential, mostly of general supplies for the trip.

    They begin walking away from the tree and out of the courtyard, in the same direction that the previous Mages Guild member had left in. Adolin decides to return to the Citadel now, with the intention of speaking with his father about his suspicions...
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  4. #4
    Elite BLUE Veteran
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    Nicholas Sapien's Avatar
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    Re: Chapter Four

    hopefully one of the archers die early on
    "I bought a xbox one to watch my team suck in HD"

  5. #5
    Planet Destroyer
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    Re: Chapter Four

    NO

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